Art Archives - Where to Kim?

The Boijmans van Beuningen Depot in Rotterdam sparks your imagination

Kim — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0000

The Boijmans van Beuningen Depot in Rotterdam offers you a unique experience: watch how many works of art are stored and preserved in a building that sparks your imagination.

In 2018, I went to the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen just before it closed its doors for a major renovation that would last for years. So when the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot opened its doors to the public, it only seemed right to go there during its first week in November 2021.

About the Depot

From the website: “Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is the world’s first publicly accessible art storage facility. The depot is located next to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Museumpark in Rotterdam. Visitors can see the result of 172 years of collecting. More than 151,000 objects housed together, arranged in fourteen storage compartments with five different climates. Next to the objects, all the activities that go into preserving and managing a collection are on open view in the building.”

Most colorful spaceship ever seen

These days, any museum experience is a bit stripped down because of the measures against the coronavirus. I couldn’t take a tour (I went to a special evening premiere) and the rooftop restaurant was closed. Still: what an impressive building it is when you first see it in all its glory. I watched it being built from the ground up every time I was near the Museumpark in Rotterdam. I dubbed it ‘Spaceship’ from the start.

When you get near the building, the first thing you see is the colorful light show (only at night) that makes good use of the street and the reflective exterior of the building. What a welcoming sight. Naturally, you take a seat on one of the makeshift seats outside to be enchanted. The feeling you have now is similar to the feeling you will have when you reach a certain sight on one of the upper floors.

May I make another comparison?

I probably scared off some readers with my spaceship comparison, but still I’d like to make another one. The interior of the building with its staircases, see-through floors and elevators – basically a facility where the non-moving parts suggest movement – reminds you of the TV show Squid Game. There, I’ve said it. After all, it was November 2021…

What I loved about the building is that everywhere you look there is something to discover, whether it’s a painting, an object or an alcove that shows how items are preserved. You are a guest in the facility that is the driving force behind your favorite exhibitions.

The objects are kept according to their temperature requirements and dimensions. You can see only a few of them, but the many storage rows show what riches are hidden from the eye of the general public. When you visit the Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot, you can book a guided tour that will take you into one of the storage rooms. Your experience will not be complete without that tour. I’ll have to go back someday to take one.

Galaxy gallery

The most interesting part of the depot is at the very center of the building where some objects can be seen from the stairs. I expected to be able to see more artwork there, as the designs show. Hopefully one day that part of the building will become more like a gallery. I want to be dazzled by art.

Last but not least, from the roof you can see the skyline of Rotterdam. So be sure to go all the way to the roof as well. This is most fun in the dark when the buildings are illuminated.

How to get to Depot Boijmans van Beuningen

The museum is located in the city center of Rotterdam. At the time of writing, many roads around the museum are blocked, making it more difficult to get there by car (I couldn’t reach the Museumpark parking garage). Still, you can park in one of the many (other) parking garages in Rotterdam and reach the museum on foot.

If you go to the museum by public transport, first go to Rotterdam Central Station. From the train station you can take tram line 7 to the Museumpark stop or metro line A, B or C to the Eendrachtsplein stop.

The Depot is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. Please check for temporary closings before your visit.

Location: Museumpark 24, 3015CX Rotterdam, Netherlands

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Museum Beelden aan Zee: sculptures with an ocean view

Kim — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0000

Beelden aan Zee is a museum with modern sculptures right next to the beach of Scheveningen in the Netherlands.

Scheveningen is one of the best-known beaches in the Netherlands. When strolling the promenade you will notice the many sculptures on display. This is a hint of what lies just behind the promenade. At the museum Beelden aan Zee you can see a variety of sculptures with different styles. It is a hidden treasure within the dunes. The natural scenery and the sandy-colored walls of the museum provide the ideal background. Depending on the exhibitions, you might also see other types of art.

Even though I’m describing my experience based on the exhibitions in November 2020, the general take-away can give you an idea of what to expect at Museum Beelden aan Zee.

Coronavirus update All museums in the Netherlands are closed at the moment (20 January 2021 update).

Exhibition: EIGEN+BEELD

The first exhibition you come upon is drawn from the museum’s own collection of modern sculptures.

It is divided into five parts:

places to be (about monuments)
Boundless (about non-western influences on Dutch sculptures)
back to the future (about classicism)
inner construction (about the abstract movement within modern sculpture)
untitled (conceptual art)

Together they link the past, the present, and the future. As the division suggests, the meaning and styles of the sculptures are diverse. The descriptions of the artworks are really interesting to read. I was mostly drawn to the white full-body sculptures whose whole stature expressed emotions: I.S. with Beretta 92 Semi-automatic by Thom Puckey (number 37) and =(passage) by Antoine Berghs (number 79). Can you see the swan in the shadow of the kneeling man in the second picture above? And a special mention for the animal with two heads whose collection-number I don’t know.

This exhibition is either hit or miss. You’ll be intrigued by the art styles or you won’t be. Fortunately, it takes only one sculpture to have a wow-effect on you, for you to appreciate the exhibition as a whole.

You can visit this exhibition from 18 September 2020 until 7 March 2021.

Exhibition: A Mutating Story

Jacob van der Beugel presents human cells as a biological landscape. The four panels in the room show a story of mutation. They are accompanied by four vertical cylindrical forms with reinforcement steel that suggest a DNA spiral.

I found this exhibition quite fascinating. The use of concrete, ceramics, and steel makes you pay attention to the panels and cylindrical forms. After reading the description, you start to look for patterns.

Quote from the website of Beelden aan Zee: “His works are meticulously constructed by hand using ceramic elements, self-healing concrete, recycled concrete and mixed aggregate. Concrete is poured into enormous, structured moulds that are reinforced with steel bars, over strategically placed ceramic ‘cells’ that act as sign-posts to assist the viewer to ‘read’ the panels. Each individual ‘cell’ is carefully constructed with layers of clay, then fired to very high temperatures. This process permanently changes the structure of the ceramic ‘cell’ by fusing the clay particles together. Each panel is then refined, polished and finished with small rectangular ceramic blocks that suggest a point of ‘mutation’.”

You can visit this exhibition from 18 July 2020 until 7 February 2021.

Exhibition: On Sculpture

For the works on display, Carel Blotkamp uses brightly colored sequins. Bling to the max. The small plastic sequins are added as comments to works by artists he admires, including well-known artists like Mondriaan.

You can visit this exhibition from 28 November 2020 until 28 February 2021.

Outdoors

Outside you can see the more permanent collection. A combination of small and abstract sculptures, and full-sized sculptures meaning the world to even the casual visitor. There is one bigger outside area, and you can also visit the smaller courtyards that you can find in between the exhibitions.

Due to the many different art styles, there’s a sculpture for everyone. Personally, I thought the placement of the sculptures had a lot of effect on my appreciation. A placement directly in front of a sandy wall, or with the blue sky or the sea in the background added a contrast to the view that helped the sculpture to ‘shine’ more.

Experience

It might be because of the sculptures currently on display, but Beelden aan Zee didn’t give me a wow-feeling. While I do appreciate the meaning of many sculptures, I don’t find most of them aesthetically pleasing. I also prefer the sculptures outside because of the background provided by the sandy walls of the building, the beach, the blue ocean, and the sky. Most of the works in the exhibitions inside didn’t really appeal to me. Though I do think that if some of them were placed outside or against a different background, I would have liked them better.

Perhaps I didn’t set the right expectations for my visit. I was expecting something like the Seosomun History Museum in Seoul where every area of the building was optimized for the artworks on display. A perfect harmony where the building enhances the meaning of the artworks and the other way around. Instead, the sculptures in the exhibition halls – especially the EIGEN+BEELD exhibition – were simply residing.

Free: Fairytale Sculptures by the Sea

In contrast, the sculptures at the Scheveningen promenade (provided by Beelden aan Zee) brought a smile to my face. They were (morbidly) funny and made great use of their surroundings. The meaning was instantly clear. Perhaps that makes them less refined, but they were much better at lifting my mood.

You can find many more sculptures at the Scheveningen promenade as part of the public space exhibition (BLVD) of Beelden aan Zee.

How to get to Museum Beelden aan Zee

From The Hague Central train station, it takes about 15 minutes by car or half an hour by public transport to reach Museum Beelden aan Zee.

And once there, you can enjoy a visit to the beach of Scheveningen.

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 – 17:00.

Tickets: 16 euro for adults and 8 euro for children.

Location: Harteveltstraat 1, 2586 EL Den Haag, Netherlands

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A big surprise in Schipluiden: Museum De Beeldenkas

Kim — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 14:00:00 +0000

This greenhouse, filled with mosaic sculptures and paintings, will speak to your imagination. Prepare to wonder, gaze, and admire, I can guarantee you won’t be bored.

You will feel like Alice in Wonderland, surrounded by sculptures bigger than you, colorful paintings wherever you look and explanations that will dazzle your mind.

Museum De Beeldenkas

In Schipluiden, a small city southwest of Delft (which is near The Hague) in the Netherlands, you can visit Museum de Beeldenkas. Now, if that is not an off-beat location, then I don’t know what is.

This sculpture (“The Traveler”) marks the road to take. On your way to the museum, you will walk in between grasslands, no tall buildings in sight, until you get to a farmhouse with a greenhouse attached to it. Upon entering, you will have to pay an entrance fee of 4 EUR in cash. The greenhouse is big enough that you can explore it on your own, keeping enough distance to other visitors (there were only four people inside when I went).

Also read: 3 cafes for the ultimate holiday feeling west of Rotterdam

Reality vs. expectation

If like me, you’re expecting a tiny museum with some works of art, then you’ll be in for a surprise. The whole greenhouse is filled with sculptures and paintings. The colors that greet you when you enter the greenhouse will work like endorphins and give you an instant happy feeling (unless you don’t like colorful things, in which case you will probably feel uneasy).

Each sculpture has a story to tell. This part will be hard for those of you who can’t read Dutch but believe me, they are expressive. Books and papers explain the meaning of each sculpture, with sculptures grouped by theme. There are the seducers (octopussy, thimble), the gods (of the fallen women, empty heads), and the forgotten veterans. You can see girls representing the Dutch culture, someone’s last kiss or last embrace, and the red army.

Many sculptures will make you laugh, either because they’re fun and surprise you, or perhaps because you’re slightly embarrassed by the guys with chastity tubes and women with large breasts or intriguing woman’s crotches. Even though some sculptures and paintings are sexual in nature, you will have to admit all of them are fantastical.

Behind the sculptures are colorful paintings of the Dutch painter Jacob Kanbier. You might want to do a second round (or a third) to only watch the paintings or watch the combination of the two.

About the artists

Willem Berkhout

The sculptures sprung from Willem’s rich fantasy world. You can see some influence from Gaudi’s work. The sculptures consist are made of mesh or steel pipe with concrete on the inside and outside. Because of this, they weigh from 150 to 1000 kilograms.

Dit bericht bekijken op Instagram

At Museum De Beeldenkas in Schipluiden, the Netherlands. This greenhouse, filled with mosaic sculptures and paintings, will speak to your imagination. #museum #museumdebeeldenkas #debeeldenkas #debeeldenkasschipluiden #art #kunst #tentoonstelling #artexhibition #artwork #sculptures #schipluiden #netherlands #nederland #travel #reizen #beeldendekunst #mozaiek #mosaic #mosaicart #paintings

Een bericht gedeeld door WheretoKim (@wheretokim) op 25 Aug 2020 om 9:19 (PDT)

Jacob Kanbier

The Dutch painter, Jacob Kanbier, takes his inspiration from Willem de Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat, which shows in his rough work. It is almost as if he creates an explosion with hands and paintbrush. He is the founder of the Neosymbolism art trend.

His work was featured in many national and international exhibitions and is increasingly popular among art collectors.

How to get to Museum De Beeldenkas

It is easiest to visit the museum by bike or car. If you have to rely on public transport, then you can take bus 33 from either Delft or Maassluis. From the bus stop, it is only a ten minutes’ walk to the museum. Nearby you can have a drink with apple pie at Bij de buurvrouw.

Location
Gaagweg 15, Schipluiden, the Netherlands

Opening hours
Monday – Friday: 08:00 – 18:00
Saturday – Sunday: 10:00 – 17:00

Tickets
4 EUR in cash

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Electric cars and artworks at the Boijmans Ahoy drive-thru museum in Rotterdam

Kim — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:00:00 +0000

The Boijmans van Beuningen museum drive-thru for electric cars brings out your inner explorer. You can watch art from the safety of your electric car at Ahoy Rotterdam.

A private experience

Nowadays, visiting a museum is becoming a more private experience than ever before. With museums limiting the number of visitors per hour or giving out time-slots to comply with the corona measures, you no longer have to stick your head out to obtain an unobscured view of artworks. The museum drive-thru, a collaboration between Boijmans van Beuningen and Ahoy Rotterdam, takes this to the next level. This temporary exhibition is their answer to the 1.5-meter social-distancing rule in the Netherlands.

Electric car

For three weeks, starting 1 August 2020, you can see a special exhibition consisting of more than fifty artworks from the safety of your own car (very corona proof!). You and your party will experience a semi-private museum tour. Don’t worry if you don’t own an electric or hybrid car or have a driver’s license: you can either borrow an electric car at the location or watch the exhibition from a promenade.

The venue

Hall 1 of the Ahoy Rotterdam has been turned into one big museum. Visitors drive by the artworks on display at a walking pace. Art is all around you, at eye level and also high above. The hall itself is dark, with the headlights of the cars illuminating the area. It feels like you’re exploring unknown territory, with beautiful objects wherever you look. If you want to take a longer look at one of the artworks, you can temporarily park wherever you like.

As Museum Boijmans van Beuningen will be closed for many more years because of a major renovation, the museum is showing its collection at other locations in the area. This one is a keeper!

The art

Inside the museum, you can see a mix of paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations. The exhibition contains both world-famous works from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and installations by contemporary artists. These works highlight the unpredictable and fickle nature of human existence. When inside, you can read more about the artworks by looking at the floorplan online.

Trees are very prominent in many of the works on display. You, the visitor, are part of the exhibition as you drive through the ‘forest’ of art, watching both the artworks and the other visitors that drive around in their own cars. The biggest work of art is perhaps the swarm of electric cars driving around like a crib mobile.

My experience

This is the first time I visited a museum drive-thru and I really liked it. While the pieces on display didn’t interest me overly much – I guess I like different art – I enjoyed exploring the hall. Often I simply parked my car somewhere to watch other people drive around and watch art. It’s fascinating.

When you enter the hall through the dark tunnel with arrows, you get the feeling you’re in an amusement park. For a second I felt disoriented when I suddenly saw a work of art and then the brake lights of the car in front of me, blocking me halfway my turn in the dark. But then you enter the big hallway and take your first look at this whole new world that is yours to explore.

At first, I followed the cars in front of me, driving at a walking pace along the wall on the right. This is like being in a traffic jam: something you need to escape quickly. You can always come back to this spot later. Soon after I took the ‘left lane’ and just drove to the artworks that caught my eye, sometimes parking right in front of an object so I could watch the work of art through my windscreen and at other times favoring the right or left window to optimize the view for either my passenger or myself. This was also when I started watching the videos as if I was at a drive-in cinema.

The fact that you’re able to choose your own path gives such a feeling of freedom. While there are many other cars – not too many, the number of cars is just right – they don’t hinder your experience because there are many nooks inside the venue. Sometimes you have to wait a little bit when another car is blocking your view, but when that car moves you get to experience the artwork in private.

I also like the environmentally-friendly concept of allowing electric cars only (I happen to have one so I brought my own!). With the unease the coronavirus causes in many people, this feels like a very safe way to still go out and watch art. If you’re in the Netherlands, I can recommend a visit!

Practical information

When

1 August 2020 – 23 August 2020

The drive-thru is open daily from 10:00 until 21:00. You can reserve a 30-minute time slot online.

Tickets

You can buy tickets on the website of Boijmans van Beuningen.

For the drive-thru

Adults: 14.50 EUR (with Rotterdampas: 7 EUR)

Children (3-12): 7.25 EUR (with Rotterdampas: 2 EUR)

There are two options for the drive-thru: with your own electric or hybrid car or with a borrowed BMW Mini Cooper.

Promenade

If you only want to watch from the promenade, without driving through the hall, you can buy a promenade ticket for 7.50 EUR. From the promenade, you can watch the cars and artworks from the side. You also have access to the food truck and the test area for electric cars.

I wouldn’t advise watching from the promenade, as the exhibition is all about the drive-thru.

Location

Ahoy Rotterdam: Ahoyweg 10, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

By car

You can park your car for free at P1 at the venue. You can exchange your parking ticket for a pre-paid one at the white tent near the food truck. This is also where you can get your BMW Mini Cooper.

If you want to explore the exhibition with your own car, you also have to go to the white tent to sign a liability waiver. When it is time to enter the exhibition, you pick up your car at the P1 parking lot and drive towards the entrance of the hall.

By public transport

Take subway line D or E from Rotterdam Centraal to the Zuidplein stop. From there, it is a six minutes’ walk to the entrance of the Ahoy Rotterdam.

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Colorful art and stained glass windows: our feelings captured in the paintings of Daphne van der Meij

Kim — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Colorful art, stained glass windows, and the splendor of a chapel: the paintings of Dutch artist Daphne van der Meij capture our feelings.

Exhibition Daphne van der Meij

At the chapel of Op Hodenpijl in Schipluiden, the Netherlands, you can visit the exhibition of Daphne van der Meij in June 2020. The exhibition consists of many colorful paintings that each bring out a different feeling. In the paintings, you can see faces and human bodies, some more abstract than others. Stills of kissing people, a naked woman, surprised or flustered people. What I see might be very different from what you see.

The brick background helps bring out the colors of the paintings even more. Just like the feelings are captured in the paintings, the paintings are trapped in the alcoves of the chapel. If you take a step back to look at the paintings from a distance, you can also take in the stained glass windows above the paintings. In a way the colors of the stained glass neutralize the colors of the paintings, making them less bright/loud and helping the paintings to blend in. The people in the paintings become visitors of the church, each with their own feelings and characters. It isn’t hard to imagine a gathering where some visitors feel like the people in the paintings.

If you go up the stairs to the tower you can find two other paintings, this time against a white background. The black outline of one of them sets the painting apart from the chapel, making the expression even stronger because of the color contrast. The location of this one was very well chosen; the expression wouldn’t have been as strong in front of a brick wall.

Experience

I liked this exhibition very much because of the contrast that was created, sometimes setting the painting apart from its surroundings and at other times helping it to blend in. The paintings are very human, despite the fact that the colors can be perceived as loud (as feelings often are). They’re us, at different times of our lives.

Visit the exhibition

The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 until 20.30 in June 2020. You can only enter the church via the main entrance (the restaurant entrance is closed).

Location: Rijksstraatweg 20/22, 2636 AX Schipluiden, Netherlands

If you can’t visit the exhibition in person, you can watch a 360 degrees impression on Google Maps.

About the artist

Daphne van der Meij is an autonomous artist and feels at home in the world of expression. As a child, she was always busy making things. If not elaborate sand castles on the beach, then drawings, clay figures, or paintings.

The paintings she creates are a translation of her intuition, feeling, memory, or story. In her creative career, she has created many things. From stage design to visual education, but also interior styling. When she gets the image, she makes it… she works intuitively. Some paintings could bring you in touch with a deeper feeling within yourself so that a process can be started. The look and feel of her paintings vary greatly. One looks very cheerful, the other very beautiful and deep and yet another feels loud. In her paintings, Daphne uses many colors. She often puts these on with the painting knife, which gives the canvas a lot of structure. The dark outline of the abstracted figure is a characteristic of her. Her style can also be described as abstracted figurative art.

(source artist bio: website Op Hodenpijl)

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Best Street Art in Madrid (with locations!)

Kim — Fri, 08 May 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Where to find the best street art in Madrid, Spain? You can read all about it here (including locations!).

Madrid is a great city for art lovers. There are many great museums like Museo Reina Sofía and Museo del Prado. But art is not only in museums: it can also be found on the streets. While some of it probably counts as vandalism, other street art seems to be put there on purpose for example to promote a business.

Below you can see some of my best finds on my City Trip to Madrid.

Lavapiés - Calle de Embajadores 33

Lavapiés - Calle de Embajadores 53

At Calle de Embajadores 53 you can also visit Tabacalera, a great museum with street art located in an old tobacco factory. This whole street and also Calle de Miguel Servet has an abundance of beautiful street art. Too many to include them all.

Lavapiés - Calle de Miguel Servet 14

Lavapiés - Calle de Miguel Servet 17

Lavapiés - Calle de Embajadores 33

Lavapiés - Calle de Valencia 3

Lavapiés - Calle de Santa Isabel 16

Lavapiés - Calle de Lavapiés 24

La Latina - Plaza de Puerta de Moros

La Latina - Plaza de la Paja 4

El Madrid de los Austrias - Calle de la Almudena 2

Sol - Gran Vía 35

Conde Duque - Calle de Amaniel 20

Malasaña - Travesía de la Cruz Verde

Malasaña - Calle de San Bernardo 20

Malasaña - opposite Calle del Pez 28

Chueca - Calle de San Bartolomé 1

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Best Virtual Museum Tours in the Netherlands

Kim — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Even though the museums in the Netherlands are closed, you can still visit many museums at home, from the couch. Find out about the best Dutch Virtual Museum Tours.

Last week, April 20-26, was the Digital Dutch Museum Week 2020. During this week the ‘golden’ showpieces of museums in the Netherlands got special attention online. This year there was special attention for virtual museum tours and workshops that you can follow from home. Because of this Museum Week I discovered many new museums online!

Below I will share my favorite free virtual museum tours in the Netherlands.

1) Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam has an impressive collection of more than eight thousand showpieces. The digital offer is also well developed: experience the museum online with an audio tour and high-quality close-ups of paintings. This digital experience is available in English. It is one of the best.

2) Mauritshuis

You can do the online 3D Tour at The Mauritshuis in The Hague to see the world’s best Dutch and Flemish artworks from the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

3) Meet Vermeer

At Google Arts & Culture you can view all of Vermeer’s paintings in a virtual exhibition. The two Dutch museums you can explore are Mauritshuis and Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

4) Dordrechts Museum

Another way to explore museums is via Google Street View. At the Dordrechts Museum you can see a varied collection with Dutch paintings from the 16th century until now. This museum has the biggest Ary Scheffer collection in the world.

5) Groninger Museum

Do the 360 degrees tour and explore the Chihuly exhibition at Groninger Museum. This museum has modern, colorful art from both well-known and lesser-known artists and offers exhibitions focusing on fashion, design, and photography.

6) Westfries Museum

Learn more about the Dutch Golden Age in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn. You can walk through a virtual 3D model of the museum to explore 27 rooms full of art in a beautiful building. Although the extra information is only available in Dutch, it is still worth a visit.

7) Rijksmuseum van Oudheden

At the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, you can learn about the fascinating culture of the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans using Google Street View. Inside this museum, you can see the sister temple of the Temple of Debod that I visited in Madrid.

8) Rijksmuseum Twenthe

Explore contemporary, modern, and classical art at Rijksmuseum Twenthe. At the museum, you can see the art of Breitner, Breughel, Ruisdael and Redon, Jongkind, Monet, and many others. Unfortunately, close-ups are not possible and the information is in Dutch only.

9) CODA Museum

Google Earth Art with Agnes Martin. The work of Agnes Martin is part of the exhibition The Future is Female – Love Letters at CODA Museum. While the information is in Dutch only, you can simply copy the coordinates listed on this page to Google Earth (in Chrome) to find the abstract art Agnes Martin wants to share with us. If you are looking for something different!

10) Museum Huis Doorn

The last one! Explore the estate of Huis Doorn in a virtual panoramic tour. You can scroll through the photo spots and look around. No walking tour unfortunately and the info is in Dutch only, but the pictures are high quality and give you the feeling you are outside exploring the estate.

What’s your favorite virtual museum tour? Where should I go next?

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Digital Dutch Museum Week 2020: for freedom

Kim — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

The Dutch Museum Week 2020 will be very different from previous years, as it will be 100% digital this year because of the coronacrisis.

This year will be different as the museums are closed because of the coronavirus. But as with (almost) everything in life: art can survive the distance. While a digital experience can never replace the feeling of being in the presence of an artwork that interests you, it doesn’t mean there is no experience.

The Museum Week 2020 will be held April 20 – 26, 2020.

A digital experience

When you are physically standing in front of an artwork it is just you and the artwork (blocking out other people in the room and noise). This can be a powerful experience. Maybe you read the accompanying info sign to learn the name of the artist and the intended meaning of the art. Occasionally, you can do a guided tour to hear more from a specialist or follow a presentation from the artist about the exhibition.

With the digital experience, you can only see what the person holding the camera wants to show you. Your viewing angle is limited to the inventiveness of the person creating the feed. On one hand, if it is a 3D object, you can not walk around it as freely as you would in a museum. On the other hand, if a drone is used to record your view, what you see won’t be limited to what is physically possible for you.

By using special effects, augmented reality or virtual reality the creator of the content can take your experience to a whole new level. You can see more, interact with the object and receive more information while you’re at it. It is not much different from watching artworks from museums on the other side of the world; museums that most of us can’t all visit physically.

I am excited about the possibilities digital offers: a vastly different experience from visiting an artwork in person. At the same time I don’t think it can mimic the intimacy of standing in front of / under / on top of an artwork. Just you and the work of art.

Things to do during the Dutch Museum Week 2020

Are they challenging the possibilities of what’s possible with this Museum Week, yes or no?
Are the organizers using the power of digital fully or simply copying the regular activities to a new platform?

These are the questions I had when I saw the announcement. Most industries are having a hard time with the government’s measures introduced to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Everyone tries to cope the best they can, trying to survive until the world is ‘normal’ again. Some do better than others. Even if the Museum Week manages to recreate 20% of its usual activities into a digital equivalent, then I think they did well. Many museums are rapidly creating an online offering so I am really curious about what will be available a year from now. That will truly be a moment for evaluation!

#OnsEchteGoudTV ('Our true gold' TV)

Every day Sahil Amar Aïssa, a Dutch actor, columnist and presenter, will discuss the showpieces of museums in the Netherlands. The theme: 75 years of cultural freedom, as this year it will be 75 years ago that the Netherlands got liberated during WWII. Participating museums have created a digital exhibition with the Dam in Amsterdam as the background to commemorate these years of peace.

The program will showcase personal stories from Museumcard holders about how they still enjoy watching art from home and tell you more about digital programs from museums you can try and other online activities people set up.

You can watch it live daily between 16:00 – 16:25 (in Dutch) or watch it later on demand.

Discover showpieces

Admire the ‘golden’ showpieces online.

And you can also upload your own picture with an artwork. If you look closely, you might find my picture on the wall!

Online tours and workshops

Participate in one of the online experiences and workshops, for example: paint like van Gogh and explore Museum Huis Doorn.

You can find a list of virtual museum tours online. Unfortunately, the site is in Dutch only and some of the museum tours have a commentary in Dutch. But you can still do the tours and see the artworks or explore the historical buildings if you don’t mind just watching. Click on the tile that interests you and then on the yellow button that says ‘Bezoek nu online’.

My experience so far

My favorite thing about this Museum Week is that I am sampling art from many different museums instead of choosing one museum and exploring that one fully. I’m learning more about my country every day!

I don’t see the digital innovations all that much, but I haven’t seen all the virtual museum tours yet. As I said before: I am curious what the landscape will look like in a year’s time. That is when I expect to see some really interesting things.

Where this Museum Week missed the boat: it is not foreigner-friendly. If you don’t speak Dutch, you won’t be able to understand the discussions or read the descriptions of for example the showpieces. How hard is it to add some subtitles or translations?

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Pretend your Home is an Art Gallery (Gallery WheretoKim)

Kim — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Fun things to do while staying at home during a lockdown because of the coronavirus: take a virtual tour of Pretend Art Gallery WheretoKim.

No, the art on display is not worth millions… the memories of the acquisition, however, are. To me at least.

In most countries, the museums are closed because of the coronavirus. Many of you are on lockdown and staying home. The same goes for me. My country is on an ‘intelligent lockdown’, meaning that 90% of the people stay at home and the other 10% ignore the requests and do as they always do.

So what do you do when you can’t go where the art is? You either create your own art show or show some appreciation for the art that you own by pretending your home is an art gallery.

Your own #PretendArtGallery

Dress up nicely and prepare yourself mentally for a special visit to your own home. You’ll be surprised about all the interesting pieces you can find within the confines of your own place. Over the years you probably gathered many beautiful objects befitting an art gallery, many of which you don’t consciously see any more because they were absorbed by the house, like furniture. They’re there and you would notice it if one of them when went missing but you don’t really see them anymore once the novelty wears off.

Now is the time to take a step back from real life and look at your place with the eyes of a first-time visitor. Be prepared to marvel at the beautiful pieces that you will see on your tour through the art gallery also known as your home.

Inside your #PretendArtGallery you can do everything you normally do at an Art Gallery or Museum.

Just take your time in front of an artwork that interests you and read up on its origin. Where and when did you buy it? Are there any fun stories attached to it? Good memories?
As always you can skip the pieces you don’t find particularly interesting. For example, those you received as a gift or those that your significant other brought into your home. Though it is possible those are the ones you cherish the most.
Take elegant pictures of your favorite artworks and post them on your social media accounts with the hashtag #PretendArtGallery. Selfies get more likes!
You can keep coming back to the pieces you like best to look at them a little bit longer. Sit down on a chair in front of the artwork if you want to spend more time gazing and dreaming (unless that one happens to be in the stairwell). There is no closing time for this Pretend Art Gallery so an all-day visit is now an option.
The toilet is always near and drinks and snacks are cheaper than in most art galleries. You’re free to touch the objects as no angry observer will come running at you if you do.

Gallery WheretoKim

So let’s take a look at #GalleryWheretoKim. As you’re not allowed to visit my place in real life I’ll take you on a virtual tour of my Pretend Art Gallery.

Cormorant of Sund (Norway)

This beautiful piece is the centerpiece of my living room. It stands proudly on the TV cabinet and I look at it daily. It was made by the blacksmith of Sund in the Lofoten in Norway. I saw him creating pieces exactly like this one and bought one of the finished cormorants to take home with me.

Owl of Matsumoto (Japan)

Next to the cormorant stands my owl. I still remember how this blue glass owl caught my attention in this little shop in Matsumoto in Japan. It stood surrounded by other metallic and glass objects, like the R2D2 that now lives at my brother’s place. I like to think it feels right at home next to my cormorant.

Herbarium of Tokyo (Japan)

These Hikka Herbariums are quite popular in Japan. Inside the glass jars, the dried flowers are preserved in a special oily liquid. You can buy them at Tokyu Hands (and some other stores) in the big shopping malls in Japan. I am especially fond of the one on the left as I picked the flowers myself and a flower artist created this bouquet on the spot during a festival at the Ueno Park in Tokyo.

Winter sky of Honningsvåg (Norway)

For her collages artist Eva Schmutterer takes inspiration from the landscape around her. She first sketches what she wants to depict and then fills her sketches with pieces of magazines and other printed media. I only have prints of the original work (Gallery WheretoKim contains only budget-friendly art). You can view Eva’s work at the Art Gallery “West of the Moon” in Honningsvåg or “East of the Sun” in Kamøyvær, both located very close to the North Cape in Norway.

Postcards of Busan (South Korea)

Postcards of Busan‘s Gamcheon Culture Village in South Korea. Taking inspiration from the collages of the Norwegian winter sky, I thought these would fit my living room perfectly. Nice and colorful, a happy and bright view opposite the darker winter skies of Norway.

Banner of Matsumoto (Japan)

A banner for protection from Matsumoto in Japan. It is elegant and unique (at least in the Netherlands). The shop owners told me about the general and battle depicted on it but I lost the note, unfortunately. I guess I should go back for an explanation.

Frog of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

A very charming frog made from coconuts. Who wouldn’t accept a proposal from this frog if he looks at you like that? I bought this one at the Art Gallery Museum of Ethnic Arts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Inside this gallery, you can find some interesting small handicraft shops next to the more touristy shops.

Pillowcase of Southern China

Colorful and handmade. For some time I didn’t dare to actually use this pillow as to not damage the pillowcase. By buying it I supported the women of the mountain village. I don’t remember which village, but I visited it on my tour through southern China.

Bird of Pythagoreio (Samos, Greece)

A small hidden bird that glows in all colors of the rainbow. It would be more natural for him to sit on the wooden skid but I guess the fridge is second best.

Tekoteko (New Zealand)

A tekoteko: a Maori style carved representation of the Maori tribal ancestors. I remember the store I bought this at and I can still picture myself exploring the store, but I can’t for the life of me remember in which city it was.

Mask of Arenal (Costa Rica)

I spent my whole lunch break in Arenal looking at masks (and skipping lunch) to find the perfect one with the right color and expression and without imperfections that annoyed me. The result has been staring at me for many years now.

Untitled

Artists often call their work untitled. I’ll take that liberty as well for this green stony work of art hanging in the hallway next to the door to my living room (with the Costa Rica mask on the other side). It first hung in the bedroom of my parents, then in mine (as a kid) and now in the hallway of my grown-up house. So basically it’s been in the family for many years, but I have no idea what it depicts or where it came from. Anyone?

Guardian from Seoul (South Korea)

The real guardian of my living room, supported by the mask of Arenal and mister Untitled. I bought this one in the handicrafts street in Insadong in Seoul.

Kodama of Yakushima (Japan)

Let’s start by saying I mean no offense to the forest spirit now brightening up my toilet in a not very wooden house. You might recognize this figure from the animation movie Princess Mononoke that took its inspiration from the Shiratani Unsuikyo forest on the subtropical Yakushima Island in Japan. The Kodama was carved from cedar wood grown on Yakushima.

Print from a museum in Rotterdam (Netherlands)

A souvenir from my only voluntary museum visit during high school. I still don’t know why it happened but when I was 14 I visited an exhibition in the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam with a friend and bought this print because I liked the colors and composition very much. High school made me visit the most boring exhibitions and theater performances as a result of which I didn’t like visiting museums for a long time. This only changed when I found out which type of museums and what type of artworks I do enjoy seeing a few years ago.

This work of art is flanked by water colorings from Japan.

Newspaper front pages from The Hague (Netherlands)

Golden front pages used for printing a 1981 ‘Den Haag Courant’ newspaper. I got these from my grandfather who had a printing house.

Zebra from Stone Town (Zanzibar)

This painting adorns my bedroom. Do you see all the cracks? It didn’t survive the flight home as it was rolled up too tight by the shop owner. At first I was very disappointed but then I thought it was actually quite funny. I bought this painting from a shabby shop, so the current state of the painting reflects the establishment perfectly. Underneath the zebra painting, you can spot another painting. Hence this is the perfect souvenir from Zanzibar.

Challenge

Take a virtual tour through your own Pretend Art Gallery and share the photos online. Use the hashtag #PretendArtGallery and tag me @WheretoKim. This way we can bring art to everyone’s house.

My next challenge: to set up an exhibition with my own art in my Pretend Art Gallery and share it here as a virtual tour.

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A perfect harmony of art and architecture at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul

Kim — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:00:00 +0000

A building with an impressive design and brilliant use of space that makes the art on display many times more meaningful. You can see it for yourself at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, South Korea.

Seosomun Shrine History Museum (서소문성지 역사박물관) is one of the more impressive museums I have visited because the building and the art complement each other so well. This museum only opened its doors in 2019 and is not well-known, but I assume it will be soon.

The museum is located at the Seosomun Historical Park. From Seoul Train Station or City Hall, it is only a twenty minutes’ walk to the park and museum. You can easily combine a visit to this museum with a visit to Namdaemun or Deoksugung Palace in Seoul.

Seosomun Historical Park

The original Seosomun Park has been renovated to become what is now a very modern park with sculptures and memorials. The Memorial Tower commemorates the martyrs who were executed during the Catholic persecutions. You can also find the sculpture called ‘Homeless Jesus 2013’ that looks very real from a distance.

The use of the landscape and plants make the park into a peaceful place that is good for a quiet walk alone or with a friend. There is something to see in every corner and along every small path.

Seosomun Shrine History Museum (서소문성지 역사박물관)

Underneath the park, you can visit Seosomun Museum: an exhibition space annex shrine, but even more than that it is a beautiful structure with interesting exhibitions.

The entrance of the museum is a few floors below ground level. An elevator can take you there but the best views are from walking down the declining slope that leads you to the golden sculpture in front of the entrance. While the open area in front of the entrance is large and welcomes the light of the sun (if the weather is good), the hallway behind the entrance looks constricted and dark.

This marks the transition from the light-spirited walk in the park to a more serious spiritual place. Once inside you can’t help but notice the high ceiling and brilliant use of materials that make the room feel both spacious and intimate.

The sculptures and artworks are spread around the room and each of them tells a unique story. They tell you more about the history of Korea and humanity. Some of the works on display are on the floor you are at, but through the windows and open spaces, you can also see other works from a very different perspective from when you see them later.

The in-between floor is used for temporary exhibitions. From 1 October 2019 until 29 December 2019 you could see the temporary exhibition Otchil and Korean Mother-of-pearl: Bridging a Thousand Years.

From the floor with the temporary exhibition, you have a good high-level view of the ‘cube’ that marks the entrance of the Consolation Hall.

You can take the central stairs to go to a lower level or take the declining slope towards the Memorial Chapel and Consolation Hall built in the middle of the museum. All at once you enter a place of meditation. The ceiling is lower when you pass the threshold to reveal a very spacious Consolation Hall with different lighting. You can take a seat to spend some quiet minutes while admiring the architecture of the building around you.

From the meditation hall, you can see 24 doors that lead to Heaven Square. All at once you’re outside again in a big square courtyard with 44 Martyrs facing you. They’re only made of raw wood, but they have a very human feel to them, these ‘People on Feet’. It doesn’t feel right to stand opposite them and face them, so you will end up walking among them and taking a stand beside them.

Next to the courtyard, there is an almost hidden door that leads to an illuminated (with natural light) hallway with stones. When you walk up the slope you yourself become part of the exhibition as the light plays with your shadow.

The lowest floor offers another spectacular sight: the ceiling arches. While you look at the books and papers (religious and historical documents) on display the ceiling demands your attention.

What’s so impressive about this whole museum is that every room is very different and optimized for its use. The art and papers on display on this level fit the ‘crypt’ feeling the ceiling gives to the room. When I walk between the men with bowed heads down I feel like contemplating as well and when I look at the faces on the wall I almost get sentimental. The height of the ceiling in the alcoves and the use of natural or artificial light intensifies the meaning of the artworks.

This was also the case in the Consolation Hall, with the lowered ceiling obscuring your vision of what is going on inside and the open sky above the People on Feet in the courtyard allowing you to see daylight.

How to get to Seosomun Shrine History Museum

You can walk to Seosomun Shrine History Museum in twenty minutes from City Hall or Seoul Train Station. There are many bus stops nearby that can take you to your next destination after your visit.

Location: 5 Chilpae-ro, Jungnim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Opening hours and tickets

Tuesday – Sunday: 9:30 – 17:30

Free admission.

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